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Urban Power USA Inc.

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We have been honored by Scientific American in their December 2010 issue! See the link on our "About Us" page!

The following is shown as reported in the Daily Hampshire Gazette on Wednesday, February 10, 2010:

Urban wind power: Giving new meaning to the windy city
by Matt Pilon and can be reached at mpilon@gazettenet.com.EASTHAMPTON - The term "wind power" conjures up images of massive blades on tall shafts out in the ocean, atop a mountain or on a prairie. City resident Mark Maynard's invention could change that. Maynard's vertical-axis wind turbine is designed for urban environments - on the roofs of skyscrapers, factories and even apartment buildings. The turbine is lightweight and silent, can capture smooth or choppy winds, requires little maintenance and has a low profile. Most important in the world of alternative energy production, it's affordable, capable of paying for itself in as little as 30 months."I think we have a very good advantage in the marketplace," Maynard said Tuesday, while overseeing the installation of a prototype turbine on the roof of the Paragon Arts and Industry Building on Pleasant Street. "I do believe this can be game-changing." That 2-kilowatt aluminum turbine, which can create enough electricity to power several homes, looks more like an industrial rooftop heating and cooling apparatus than it does any sort of windmill. It would cost about $7,000, Maynard said.The prototype turbine will stay on the Paragon Building for about a month, allowing Maynard to measure wind conditions and how much energy the turbine is creating. It is not currently powering the building or attached to the grid. The prototype is 8 feet in diameter and 4 feet tall. A slightly larger 5-kilowatt version is only weeks away from completion, Maynard said. And they can get much bigger from there. A turbine with a 50-foot diameter could produce 100 kilowatts, said Maynard, who has a second patent pending on the design for the larger models.The turbines could also be stacked atop one another, allowing for efficient use of rooftop space. Maynard is hoping his turbines will change the way that urban dwellers and businesses consume electricity. "This is designed to capture low wind speeds, turbulent wind and wind that comes between buildings," he said. The device would allow its owner to take advantage of net metering - sending electricity to the power grid and pulling it back out as needed, saving money and reducing the user's carbon footprint in the process.Maynard, who works for the Springfield Water and Sewer Commission, began working on scaled foam models of the turbine four years ago in his living room. He has three grown children and is pursuing a degree in management and engineering at UMass Amherst. They are in the process of incorporating Urban Power USA, which can be found at www.urbanpowerusa.com. They have also applied for a grant to help the city put turbines on one or more city buildings.

Mayor Michael A. Tautznik looked on Tuesday as a crane installed the turbine. "It's just intriguing," Tautznik said. "It should be exciting for everyone when we consider the kind of power we use as a nation."

We have also been featured in an article in the Montague Reporter in April 2011 regarding the town of Wendell, MA.

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